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Saraswati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती, IAST: Sarasvatī) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning.[4] She is a part of the trinity (Tridevi) of Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati. All the three equal forms unite with the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva to create, maintain, and regenerate the Universe, respectively.
The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a goddess is in the Rigveda.[6] She has remained significant as a goddess from the Vedic period through modern times of Hindu traditions.[7] She is generally shown to have four arms, holding a book, a rosary, a water pot and a musical instrument called Veena. Each of these items have symbolic meaning in Hinduism.
Some Hindus celebrate the festival of Vasant Panchami (the fifth day of spring, and also known as Saraswati Puja and Saraswati Jayanti in so many parts of India) in her honour,[8] and mark the day by helping young children learn how to write the letters of the alphabet on that day.[9] The Goddess is also revered by believers of the Jain religion of west and central India,[10] as well as some Buddhist sects.
Saraswati, is a Sanskrit fusion word of saras (सरस्) meaning "pooling water", but also sometimes translated as "speech"; and vati (वती) meaning "she who possesses". Originally associated with the river or rivers known as Saraswati, this combination, therefore, means "she who has ponds, lakes, and pooling water" or occasionally "she who possesses speech". It is also a Sanskrit composite word of surasa-vati (सरसु+अति) which means "one with plenty of water".[13][14]
The word Saraswati appears both as a reference to a river and as a significant deity in the Rigveda. In initial passages, the word refers to the Sarasvati River and is mentioned as one among several northwestern Indian rivers such as the Drishadvati. Saraswati, then, connotes a river deity. In Book 2, the Rigveda describes Saraswati as the best of mothers, of rivers, of goddesses.
Saraswati is celebrated as a feminine deity with healing and purifying powers of abundant, flowing waters in Book 10 of the Rigveda
Vedic literature, Saraswati acquires the same significance for early Indians (states John Muir) as that accredited to the river Ganges by their modern descendants. In hymns of Book 10 of Rigveda, she is already declared to be the "possessor of knowledge".[17] Her importance grows in Vedas composed after Rigveda and in Brahmanas, and the word evolves in its meaning from "waters that purify", to "that which purifies", to "vach (speech) that purifies", to "knowledge that purifies", and ultimately into a spiritual concept of a goddess that embodies knowledge, arts, music, melody, muse, language, rhetoric, eloquence, creative work and anything whose flow purifies the essence and self of a person.[14][18] In Upanishads and Dharma Sastras, Saraswati is invoked to remind the reader to meditate on virtue, virtuous emoluments, the meaning and the very essence of one's activity, one's action.
Saraswati is known by many names in ancient Hindu literature. Some examples of synonyms for Saraswati include Brahmani (power of Brahma), Brahmi (goddess of sciences),[19] Bharadi (goddess of history), Vani and Vachi (both referring to the flow of music/song, melodious speech, eloquent speaking respectively), Varnesvari (goddess of letters), Kavijihvagravasini (one who dwells on the tongue of poets).[1][4] The Goddess Saraswati is also known as Vidyadatri (Goddess who provides knowledge), Veenavadini (Goddess who plays Veena, the musical instrument held by Goddess Saraswati), Pustakdharini (Goddess who carries a book), Veenapani (Goddess who carries a veena in her hands), Hansavahini (Goddess who sits on swan) and Vagdevi (Goddess of speech).
In some interpretations, "Sara" is translated as "Essence", and "Sva" is translated to "Self". Thus, the name Saraswati would translate to "She who helps realize the essence of self" or "She who reconciles the essence (of Parabrahman) with one's self
In Hindu tradition, Saraswati has retained her significance as a goddess from the Vedic age up to the present day.[7] In Shanti Parva of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Saraswati is called the mother of the Vedas, and later as the celestial creative symphony who appeared when Brahma created the universe.[14] In Book 2 of Taittiriya Brahmana, she is called “the mother of eloquent speech and melodious music”. Saraswati is the active energy and power of Brahma.[1] She is also mentioned in many minor Sanskrit publications such as Sarada Tilaka of 8th century CE. NH9sonIoSYs |